Americas top stories: weekly summary

HOUSTON (ICIS)–Here are the top stories from ICIS News from the week ended 16 February.

TiO2 prices to improve after Q1 – Tronox co-CEO
Tronox expects titanium dioxide (TiO2) prices to reverse their downward trend and begin improving after the first quarter, John Romano, co-CEO of the US-based producer said in an update on Friday.

INSIGHT: US chemicals may benefit from ultra-low priced natural gas through H1 ’24
US chemical producers should continue to benefit from natural gas selling at historically low levels, a trend that has lowered feedstock costs just as their foreign competitors are paying more for oil-based material.

Global oil demand growth losing momentum as post-pandemic rebound phase ends – IEA
The momentum of crude oil demand growth is starting to slow as the post-pandemic rebound in consumption nears its conclusion, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said on Thursday, despite arctic conditions in January tightening market balances.

Avient sees end to destocking, raw material deflation to continue in H1 – execs
While customers are managing inventories tightly as they monitor demand, Avient sees destocking coming to an end in key markets, with underlying demand starting to improve, the top executives of the US-based polymer materials company said on Wednesday.

China customers expect no domestic demand growth in 2024 – Trinseo CEO
Trinseo’s customers in China expect zero domestic demand growth in 2024 versus 2023 on persistent weakness in building and construction, as well as consumer durables, its CEO said.

US Trinseo expects another net loss in Q1, may take more actions
Trinseo expects another quarterly net loss in the first quarter after reporting one on Monday for its fourth-quarter results.